Matthew Morrison - Average, Based on 5 Critics

The Glee star gets help from all the right places on his pop debut, collaborating with sure-shot producers and songwriters responsible for hits by Kelly Clarkson and Panic! at the Disco. He even ropes in cameos by Sting, American Idol champ Kris Allen, and sometime costar Gwyneth Paltrow — who inspires Morrison to revisit his Broadway roots on a lush ”Somewhere Over the Rainbow. ” (Elton John turns up too for a medley-ized ”Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters/ Rocket Man.

Before he became a TV star as Glee’s lovable but indecisive Mr. Schuester, Matthew Morrison was a Broadway star. His self-titled debut album -- the first official one from the Glee cast -- tries to make him into a bona fide pop star as well, but it doesn’t always play to his strengths. On these songs, Morrison's voice is so pretty and pure that it verges on faceless, especially since listeners can’t see him, unlike his performances on TV and the stage.

It’s impossible to separate Matthew Morrison’s self-titled debut album from the Glee phenomenon, since it’s his role on the wildly popular show that gave the erstwhile boy-band member and Broadway performer the cachet to record a studio album. And though Glee started its run with a promising balance of sincerity and self-referential irony, the show has quickly devolved into musical set pieces tethered together by the thinnest slivers of plot and character. Morrison’s debut, unfortunately, is similarly lacking in consistent character or tone, punctuated only by a couple of high-profile cover tunes and celebrity guests.

If you’ve flicked on your TV at least once in the last two years, you’ve likely already heard Matthew Morrison‘s voice. In the role of Will Schuester on the love-it-or-hate-it program Glee, Morrison has had ample opportunity to show off his vocal chops, though he’s been relegated to mainly covers (and some unfortunate rapping) thus far. Just recently, he took his first big musical step away from the show, releasing his self-titled debut.